The Night Before
by savedprincess85
Summary: Harry is thirsty and finds much more than he bargained for when he gets a drink of water. Written for QL Round 7


Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures: Write about an encounter with a wild animal, beast, creature, etc

Bonus Prompts: Imitation (word), hopeful (emotion)

Word Count: 1193

Harry hated living with the Dursleys. After his parents had died in a car crash when he was one, he had been placed on his aunt and uncle's doorstep. That was nine years ago. Now, June had faded away, and July brought a heatwave to Little Whinging. His eleventh birthday was at the end of the month. For the first time ever, Harry was looking forward to the fall and the beginning of school. Finally, he would be in a different school than his cousin, Dudley. Harry was hoping to make friends for the first time in his life.

He lay in the darkness of the cupboard under the stairs, waiting anxiously for Aunt Petunia to go to sleep. She had a certain pattern and routine of doing things at bedtime. But Harry was thirsty. Aunt Petunia had ordered him to work in the garden during the hottest part of the day. He had been ripping up weeds in the runner beans and squash.

"Boy! Don't you dare pull up my beautiful plants! Only the weeds," Aunt Petunia had yelled from the kitchen window.

Sweat had been pouring from his face, wiping his brow, he had looked up. "Yes, Aunt Petunia."

Finally, at long last, he heard Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon head upstairs to bed. He waited, listening for the telling signs of the toilet flushing and water in the sink to stop running.

Fifteen minutes after the last sign of life from upstairs, Harry crept quietly out of his cupboard under the stairs. He walked toward the kitchen on tiptoes, stepping over the creaking floorboard on the edge of the kitchen and living room. Finally, he was in the kitchen. He pulled a glass silently from the cabinet above the sink and turned the faucet to a slight drizzle, making sure no noise was coming from the running water, to fill his glass with water. He didn't dare to turn the light on, he used the light of the streetlights outside to see what he was doing.

He drank the water in huge desperate gulps. Harry was very hungry as well but didn't dare to open the fridge and try to find food.

Harry nearly dropped his glass on the floor when a clatter came from outside the door, near the dustbins. Banging and scraping sounds continued for a few more seconds. Harry put the glass on the counter and walked to the back door to look out the window.

He didn't see anything outside, but that didn't mean something wasn't there. Harry quietly unlocked the door and opened it. He listened for a moment to see if Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon were coming down the stairs, but he heard nothing.

Harry stepped out the door and closed it as quietly as possible. The concrete was still warm from the heat of the sun on his bare feet. The night air was pleasant. Harry froze. One of the dustbins, only a few feet away from where he stood, was rocking back and forth as though something was inside it. Harry wasn't sure what to do. Making any kind of loud noise would wake his aunt and uncle. But whatever was inside the trashcan was also directly under their window, so it may wake them anyway. He looked up and no light was shining so they were still asleep for the time being.

He hoped he could get the animal to go away without waking them. Harry stepped toward the rocking dustbin slowly, unsure of how to proceed to scare the animal away. He heard munching sounds coming from it.

Harry crept closer and decided to grab the bin and shake it and move back as fast as possible. So he did- he shook the dustbin and stumbled over his own two feet and fell as he backed up. He fell with a loud huff. Thankfully, he fell away from the metal dustbins and landed in the bushes under the window.

He heard a hiss coming from the dustbin and out popped a little black and white masked face. The raccoon stared at Harry with its paws propping itself against the edge to peek out of the dustbin.

Harry couldn't help but smile at the cute animal, but then the raccoon hissed and dropped back into the dustbin. Harry realized the raccoon wasn't intimidated by him in the least. It would take more for him to get the raccoon to leave. He heard the raccoon begin to munch on food in the bin.

He stood back up carefully and pulled the few leaves from his hair and dropped them back into the bush so Aunt Petunia couldn't blame him for a mess of leaves on the ground at the back door. Harry stepped toward the dustbins one last time and shook the bin even harder than before, this time keeping his balance.

The raccoon jumped out of the dustbin and knocked it over with a loud clang and bang, causing all the garbage to tumble out on the ground. The raccoon looked at him and dashed away into the night with a hiss and a skitter. Harry glanced up at the window above him and saw the light turn on.

He was in trouble now. Harry panicked and tried to push everything back into the dustbin. He wasn't fast enough. The kitchen door opened, and Aunt Petunia stood, looking furious, in the doorway with her hair in curlers. Harry bit back a laugh at the sight of his aunt, even though she was livid with being woken from sleep.

Aunt Petunia asked in her most condescending tone, "What are you doing boy? Digging through the dustbins? Clean this mess up, maybe this is your future, dustman. It would be fitting for you, boy. How dare you wake the rest of us up!"

"It wasn't me! It was a raccoon. I heard him and came to investigate," Harry attempted to explain.

Aunt Petunia looked at him with disbelieving eyes. "Then why is there a glass on the counter? Were you stealing food as well, boy? No meals tomorrow. Now clean this up and go to your cupboard!"

She turned and snatched the glass Harry had drunk from, cleaning it with a sponge violently before slamming open the cabinet door to put it in its place. Harry watched his aunt mouth her frustration to the glass before he threw up his hands and did a mocking and silent imitation of his aunt telling him to clean the trash. Then he cleaned up the mess the raccoon had made. He knew she would never accept that it was a raccoon and not him causing trouble. He had been trying to help.

Aunt Petunia waited to go back to bed until he had finished. Harry washed his hands at the sink in the kitchen and walked to the cupboard under the stairs. Neither Harry or Petunia saw the owl silently flying toward Number 4 Privet Drive, nor were they aware that a letter was dropped through the maildrop in the door. The letter was addressed in mysterious green ink, to Mr. Harry J. Potter.


End file.
